Mobile image displays are useful to facilitate communication of visual information to a user while the user is on the move. Such image displays are especially useful for users who are doing fast moving sports such as cycling, swimming, skiing, paragliding or the like when a high degree of concentration is required.
Conventional sports computers typically include a low-end microprocessor which is typically adapted for processing and storing sporting data and parameters. For example, running computers are adapted for tracking steps and distance jogged or run, bicycle computers are for tracking cycling speed and cadence, swimming computers are for tracking laps and stroke counts and timing, and skiing computers are for tracking skiing speed and distance.
With the ever increasing versatility and miniaturization, coupled with substantial cost reductions, of microprocessors and mobile telecommunications devices, modern mobile sports computers equipped with mobile telecommunications frontends are becoming more portable, more affordable, and therefore more popular. The incorporation of mobile telecommunications devices into modern day sports computers means that more and more information is available and real-time information exchange is also possible. For example, sports computers are now commonly equipped with GPS so that the positional, path and geographical information of a sporting user could be readily available for processing for self- and external-use. Likewise, sports computers are frequently equipped with physiological sensors to capture physiological information such as heart rate, ECG, blood oxygen level, and ambient sensors to capture micro-weather information such as temperature, humidity, brightness or pollutant levels. The locally captured data or information could be combined with external data, such as position, routing, wind speed, wind direction, sun-rise time, sun-set time, high-tide time, low tide time, or other macro-weather information for path planning or scheduling.
For example, instructions could be received from instructors or coaches on the basis of locally captured weather, performance and/or physiological data captured in combination with the external data and then transmitted to sports person for use.
For many sports, especially speed sports, it is desirable that the sports computers include hands-free visual information displays so that a user can view the information display of a sports computer without hand operation to mitigate distraction or interruption.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,192,137 discloses a sports goggle having an information display means which is mounted on a goggle main body. The information display means includes a liquid crystal, a cathode ray tube (CRT), a semiconductor device, a light-emitting diode (LED), an electroluminescence, or a micro-mirror device (DMD). However, as a sports goggle is frequently used under outdoor conditions, the high level of screen illumination required to make images visible means an undesirably high power consumption level which in turn means either an undesirably heavy goggle or undesirably short operating time.